Sporting News’ Hall of Fame college basketball writer answers five questions burning in his sport—while hiding disappointment that he was not called to do ESPN the Magazine’s ‘Body Issue.’

1. It has been over a month since P.J. Hairston was arrested, and yet UNC is still fact-gathering in the case. How poorly have the Tar Heels handled this situation?

DeCourcy: There have been lots of calls for Hairston to be suspended indefinitely while North Carolina—or, perhaps more on point, USA Today—investigates the situation. Carolina could do that, but would accomplish what, exactly?

Hairston is not currently enrolled in summer school at UNC, so he couldn’t work out with the coaches, anyway. So if he’s suspended today, he’s suspended from nothing. We’ve all seen hundreds of these offseason suspensions when an athlete encounters some sort of trouble and then, when the games begin, there they are playing games again.

Hairston continues to put Roy Williams and the entire university into an untenable position. In Williams’ case, he dealt with Hairston prior to the NBA draft declaration deadline and no doubt explained what he would gain with another year of college basketball. To cut him loose now, before any resolution has developed with Hairston’s legal issues, would be to renege on all of those conversations.

However, Hairston’s lack of circumspection ultimately might force Carolina to act. A school whose athletic department can afford no more damaging publicity now is dealing with a star basketball player who reportedly was driving an expensive rental car—more than once—that he did not pay for himself. That’s at least as problematic for UNC as the marijuana possession charges and traffic violations confronting Hairston.

Thursday morning, UNC athletic director Bubba Cunningham released a statement that summed up the university’s approach:

“The athletic department compliance staff and I are fully aware of recent media accounts related to our men’s basketball team. We take these matters very seriously and are looking into these reports and the inferences they contain with all due diligence. It is my practice not to comment on the individuals involved or the details surrounding these reports until we have sufficient understanding of the facts involved. We are still gathering information, learning information from other sources, and we will not comment until we have a strong grasp of each individual situation. Where the facts show mistakes in judgment and/or actions, Coach Williams will take and I will support the appropriate disciplinary measures.

“The integrity of the University of North Carolina is of paramount concern to all of us and is the principle on which Coach Williams and the athletic department operate each and every day. The most responsible course of action, however, is to withhold judgment and comment until we are confident we have the facts to do so. I appreciate everyone’s understanding of that and we will bring these matters to resolution as soon as possible.”

It’s more important where Hairston stands regarding the various problems he has created for himself, and how Carolina reacts to all that, as of the start of fall-term classes. UNC goes back to school Aug. 20. That’s a little more than a month. Rushing the issue might please the media, but serves no greater purpose.

2. If Steve Alford leaves UCLA prior to 2016, he owes the school $10.4 million. And if UCLA tires of him in the same time frame, the school owes him $10.4 million. That’s an absurd amount on both sides. Imagine the financial friction if things don’t go well, right?

DeCourcy: How quickly everyone forgets the predicament UCLA created for itself by pushing out Ben Howland after he stacked a Pac-12 Conference title on top of the run of three consecutive Final Fours he completed just five years ago.

With Howland out of the picture, UCLA assumed Brad Stevens would jump to answer his cell phone as soon as he saw the 3-1-0 area code. It didn’t go like that. Shaka Smart took himself out of the running by accepting an extension at VCU.

UCLA would have destroyed its entire athletic salary structure to pursue a $3-5 million coach such as Rick Pitino or Billy Donovan or Tom Izzo. And it lacked the vision to bring back a young talent like Santa Clara’s Kerry Keating. So Alford’s name recognition, coaching skill and price tag all fit the school’s requirements, more or less.

Thing is, he had incredible leverage. Where would UCLA turn if he said no? And what if it leaked that he’d turned them down? How embarrassing would that have been for the administration, to not even be able to land the guy who just lost to Harvard? So he was able to ask for the full contract to be guaranteed, more or less. The buyout on his end? Alford isn’t leaving UCLA voluntarily. He’s a shrewd guy. He knows this. There’s no “up” from here. So a rival agent might criticize the line-item, but it’s of no consequence. It’s just words on a paper.

Alford and UCLA are married to one another, for better or worse. There will be no quickie annulment.

3. The specter of adding luxury suites to Rupp Arena has brought one Kentucky fan to tears. That’s passion. Do college basketball’s most passionate fans reside in Lexington?

DeCourcy: No. That’s far too specific. College basketball’s most passionate fans reside in Pikeville, and Harlan, and Covington, and Frankfort, and Elizabethtown, and Owensboro, and Danville, and Hazard, and Maysville and, to the occasional chagrin of some people who prefer the color red, Louisville.

They do, as well, live in Lexington.

There are lots of college basketball fans who love their teams with abundant passion, but there is a grip that Kentucky basketball has on “the Commonwealth” that isn’t matched anywhere else.

That said, it’s ridiculous for anyone to object to Rupp Arena being updated strictly on the grounds that the wealthier UK patrons might have the opportunity to segregate themselves from less fortunate fans.

There are aspects of Rupp that make it superior to many more modern buildings, specifically that 23,000-plus seats can be squeezed into a space that offers better sightlines than many buildings that hold 20,000 or fewer. But the wonderful upgrades to the UK locker room underscored that the arena itself is in need of a facelift. It’s time.

4. Mike Krzyzewski still doesn’t like that Notre Dame is a half-ACC brother in the league’s realignment. Do you see his comments being an ongoing issue?

DeCourcy: It will be when the Blue Devils visit the Purcell Pavilion this winter. Oh, yeah.

ND’s student fans are extremely close to the court. When I attended their Kentucky game last season, Manti Te’o was so close he could have tackled Nerlens Noel. So Krzyzewski is going to hear them.

But he has a point. The Big East got exactly what out of accommodating Notre Dame for two decades? Some extra NCAA Tournament bids? The chance to say hello to one of the genuinely nice men in the coaching business, Mike Brey? Is that a reasonable exchange for completely subverting requirements and expectations for league members?

Jim Boeheim was correct when he said Notre Dame going all-in could have saved the Big East. And it would have been the smartest thing for Notre Dame football. I’d written it years before. But the Irish value their football independence almost religiously. That’s not going to change.

5. Arizona State got a lot more interesting with the addition of Penn State’s Jermaine Marshall. Forecast where this puts the Sun Devils in the Pac-12’s 2013-14 pecking order.

DeCourcy: The league should be solid through the middle, with a chance at six or seven NCAA Tournament bids. Adding Marshall, who averaged 15.3 points and hit 53 3-pointers, gives All-America candidate Jahii Carson a potentially dynamic backcourt partner.

ASU figured to be a mid-pack team before this, and now it’ll be a little more toward the top of that middle. That could be enough to get the Sun Devils back to the NCAAs. That’d be great for all of us, because Carson is a treat to watch.